Spiritual Values In Anne Bradstreet's Upon The Burning Of Our House

Readers can infer that Bradbury used this quote to teach readers how willing the lady was to die with her books, and her beliefs and values. This woman wants to be a beacon to the firemen and others who believe

Though the majority of the remaining were ill, God gave to them caretakers for the rest. Bradford and Bradstreet both see the God’s glory, but Bradford reveals them in the difficult times in life, where Bradstreet sees them in the good times. Bradstreet sees God’s glory in the superb aspects of life, like her husband. Anne Bradstreet writes about how much her husband means to her and her strong relationship with her husband. Bradstreet states, “Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere/

A piece of literature that I found interesting was a story by Mary Rowlandson. Mary Rowlandson "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration" was a remarkable story. Mary's story gives you a personal feel of what she went through when she was captured and kept for ransom. Her work was inspirational and very heartfelt. As she tells her readers about her hardships she also sets a seldom tone.

Bradstreet knows the goodness in God and rather than fearing him she thanks Him or asks for help. While her house was burning she asked God “to strengthen [her] in [her] time of distress”(9) because she knows everything that happens is through the will of God and only He can help her through this difficult situation. Bradstreet sees God as a just one even though he took all of her physical possessions. She takes His justness a step further by saying in lines 18 and 19 that even if He took all of her belongings, it would still be reasonable. Bradstreet also believes in a positive afterlife for herself and most people around her.

In about 1640, Bradstreet focused her poems primarily in piety, as shown in “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and courage, as shown in “Upon

Author – Lynda Hull is the author of the poem “The Night Waitress”. Hull had been developing an impressive career in Literature when she died in a car accident. She was influenced heavily by Hart Crane, she had allegedly memorized his poems, as well as jazz musicians. Hull taught English in many universities and also served as Poetry Editor for a journal.

In the poems “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Upon the Burning of Our House” the author Anne Bradstreet allows the reader a glimpse of what she values. The two poems are alike because they both explore her religion and show her love for God. In these two poems they let you get a glimpse of the way she looked at things and saw the good side of everything. For example, in “ To My Dear and Loving Husband” it says “ if ever a man were loved by wife, then thee; if ever wife was happy in man,”.

Hellen Keller once said that, “Although the worlds is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” In Hellen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, she wrote about her experiences with learning as a person who was both blind and deaf. In this passage taken from her book, she described her transformation from a child who fought fervently against learning, to an individual who yearned to understand and describe the world around her. Keller presented her shift in the passaged as one that altered her perspective of every aspect of her life, and awakened a sense of happiness and fulfillment within her. She portrayed this change through devices that allowed the reader to closely follow her experiences and understand the emotions that she carried with her

Theses writings were for personal use and despite their wishes were eventually published. Because of this, their writings showed true emotion and not that for entertainment or religious persuasion. Once released to the public their experiences were valued and passed on for generations to come. There was many simulates in the works of Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s describing signs from God to appreciate the nature, family and most importunely to put God first. Because of these signs and resulting tragedies, Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson had a very positive outlook on life and inspired many to follow and appreciate the simple things in life.

In this essay, I will analyze the poem Verses Upon the Burning of Our House (July 10th, 1666) by Anne Bradstreet, a puritan who most critics consider to be America’s first “authentic poet. The poem is based on a true story as Anne’s house really did burn down and illustrates her meditations on this event, the pain she felt after losing her home and the effect it had on her faith. The main theme is Anne’s struggle to not become attached to material things. I will begin by explaining the rhyme, style, and tone of the poem, continue by explaining which literary devices and interesting features we can find and the effect they have on the reader, then I will analyze the poem and finally I will give a brief conclusion. Verses Upon the Burning of Our House is a poem written in couplets in iambic tetrameter scheme which makes the story flow nicely.

While both poets try to be optimistic about the death of their loved ones, Wheatley, the more religious poet of the two, emphasizes the importance of religion by using her almost artistic sculpting of descriptive adjectives and robust nouns such as “The glowing stars and silver queen of light/ At last must perish in the gloom of night” and in using this word choice, she shows how much weight her religion holds (19-20). As Wheatley praises her God and his doings in her poem, Bradstreet makes sure to underline how much her relationship with her husband and kids mean to her. “Look to my little babes, my dear remains./ And if thou love thyself, or loved’st me,/

As well as comparing the child to nature on how trees over time will rot, and that her absence is like a vacant spot were a flower should be. In the second poem, Bradstreet writes as if she is more shaken and broken. She uses symbols of things that are easily broken. Much like glass and bubbles in her writing.

Furthermore, by using end rhyme, Bradstreet symbolically shows restraint. In the same way that a poet controls oneself by specifically using end rhyme, the poet is controlling her emotions when dealing with a sad experience and accepts her mortality. Similarly, in “Verses Upon the Burning of our House,” proof of Bradstreet’s faith is indisputable. After being initially distraught at her house burning down and losing all of her belongings, Bradstreet recounts how she reorients herself and blesses “His name that gave and took,

Once there was there was one thing that seems mighty curious is that a young girl lay half asleep in a room that she could never awake and know that she is nowhere in sleeping distance that if she ever awakes and yells for someone that they will never hear her voice shriek or cry. It is her 16 th birthday and isn’t really in the distance for anyone to hear because she had been kidnapped and taken to a place deep and dark that no one will ever hear or find her unless some clues were drop along the way of her disappearance. Her name once was Alizzabele Catriena and it may or may not be anymore cuz no one heard her or anyone at all ever. Now never to know, the family may never see Alizzabele agian seems that the risk is delicately high above

Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672) has been a long-lasting leading figure in the American literature who embodied a myriad of identities; she was a Puritan, poet, feminist, woman, wife, and mother. Bradstreet’s poetry was a presence of an erudite voice that animadverted the patriarchal constraints on women in the seventeenth century. In a society where women were deprived of their voices, Bradstreet tried to search for their identities. When the new settlers came to America, they struggled considerably in defining their identities. However, the women’s struggles were twice than of these new settlers; because they wanted to ascertain their identities in a new environment, and in a masculine society.